1. Future ideas for fast paced media
in a complex world
Facilitator: Peter Fray
Panellists: Nicole Clements, Matt
Wade, Sean Dorney, Erdem Koc

2. Democratic Republic of the Congo
Photo: Richard Wainwright
Photo: Richard Wainwright

5. Diverting aid funds
On 17 December 2012, the federal government announced it
would be diverting $375 million from the aid budget to pay for
onshore processing of asylum seekers.
Media coverage on 18 December:
• SMH - the government had “deferred or cut other foreign
projects to provide $375 million…”
• The Age – the government “will divert up to $375 million”
• The Australian – the government is
“redirecting…aid….sparking concerns needier people overseas
will be left in the cold.”
• The Courier-Mail and The Daily Telegraph – government
“slashed…the foreign aid budget under secret plans to help
get its battered Budget back in the black.”

6. Diverting aid funds
Media coverage on 19-20 December:
• The Age and Canberra Times – Bob Carr’s office saying the
detail of which areas would be affected was still to be worked
out
• The Age editorial described the decision as “a new low” and
as a “sneaky money shuffle”
• The Australian reported Labor backbenchers discontent with
the decision, and also a quote from a spokesman for Wayne
Swan, who said labeling the redirection of funds as a
reduction in ODA was inaccurate.
• The Australian also interviewed former PM Malcolm
Fraser, who labelled the decision as a “total misuse of foreign
aid funds”.

7. Diverting aid funds
Little to no weight given in the coverage that the OECD allows for
aid donors to count in-country refugee costs as ODA under its
“transport and temporary sustenance” clause, for a period of 12
months.
This piece in Crikey by AID/WATCH touched on it:
“Many asylum seekers wait several years for their claims
to be processed face the prospect of indefinite
detention. It is therefore likely aid will be used to fund
prolonged detention – against OECD rules.”

8. Diverting aid funds
The details to the diverted funding came from AusAID in a press
release on 8 February 2013.
AusAID’s director-general Peter Baxter and Foreign Minister Bob
Carr then appeared before the Senate Estimates Committee the
following week, where it was said:
• AusAID hasn’t cancelled programs, rather delayed or deferred
some;
• Very small reductions across a large number of programs to
minimise the impact; and
• ODA money used for similar purposes in the US, France,
Sweden, Netherlands, Norway and Canada.

10. Future ideas for fast paced media
in a complex world
Facilitator: Peter Fray
Panellists: Nicole Clements, Matt
Wade, Sean Dorney, Erdem Koc